Ken Costa

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Kenneth "Ken" Costa
Born (1949-10-31) 31 October 1949 (age 71)
South Africa
Alma materUniversity of the Witwatersrand
Queens' College, Cambridge
OccupationBanker

Kenneth Johann Costa, commonly known as Ken Costa, (born 31 October 1949) is a London-based South African banker and Christian philanthropist. He served as the Chairman of Lazard from 2007 to 2011.

Early life[]

Ken Costa was born in South Africa on 31 October 1949.[1][2] His family were farmers of Lebanese descent.[3] He was educated at a white-only boarding school in Pretoria.

He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, where he received a bachelor's degree in Law and Philosophy in 1972.[4] During that time, he was the President of the students' council and identified as a marxist.[3] He was an opponent of the apartheid regime and friends with fellow anti-apartheid activists like Ahmed Timol and Steve Biko.[3]

He went on to receive a Masters of Law Degree and a Certificate in Theology from Queens' College, Cambridge in England.

Career[]

Costa started his career in banking at S. G. Warburg & Co. in London in the 1980s, when he was mentored by Sir Siegmund Warburg.[3] He joined UBS when S. G. Warburg & Co. merged with it.[3][5] He eventually served as the Chairman of Europe, Middle East and Africa at UBS Investment Bank, retiring in September 2007.[5][6]

He served as the Chairman of Lazard International from 2007 in 2011.[2][5][7] He was an advisor to Mohamed Al-Fayed on his 1.5 billion sale of Harrods to the Qatari royal family.[7]

In December 2014, he joined the Board of Directors of , which owns 70% of Canary Wharf, replacing Khalifa Al-Kuwari.[5][7][8]

He was Professor of Commerce at Gresham College[9] and he is the dean of .[10]

Christian philanthropy[]

He is the Chairman of Alpha International, which promotes the Alpha course.[7] He has spoken at Holy Trinity Brompton,[11] where he was previously a church warden, and also at New Wine. He is the author of God At Work, a 2007 book about Christianity's relationship to the workplace[3][12] and Know Your Why in 2016, a book about finding and fulfilling your calling.

Political activity[]

Costa donated £10,000 to Jeremy Hunt during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[13] During the 2019 United Kingdom general election, he donated £25,000 to the Conservative Party.[14]

Personal life[]

He has been married for thirty years and is a Chelsea fan.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ Companies House, Appointment of director for the Lambeth Trust
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Liam Vaughan, Ken Costa Quits Lazard, The Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2011
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Michael Skapinker, Lunch with the FT: Ken Costa, Financial Times, February 1, 2008
  4. ^ Ken Costa, Bloomberg Business
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Claer Barrett, Kate Allen and Arash Massoudi, Qataris appoint Ken Costa to Songbird Estates board, Financial Times, December 11, 2014
  6. ^ Katherine Griffiths, Ken Costa leaves UBS to join rival Lazard, The Daily Telegraph, 07 September 2007
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Kasmira Jefford, Qatari hires veteran banker Ken Costa to board of Songbird, City A.M., 12 December 2014
  8. ^ Russell Lynch, Qatar appoints Ken Costa to Songbird board as battle for Canary Wharf takes new twist, The Independent, 11 December 2014
  9. ^ "Professor Kenneth Costa". www.gresham.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  10. ^ "Dean Ken Costa". www.leadershipcollegelondon.org. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Ken Costa | HTB Church". www.htb.org. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  12. ^ Michael J. De La Merced, Ken Costa, Senior Lazard Banker, Quits, The New York Times, March 29, 2011
  13. ^ Walker, Peter; Walker, Amy (5 July 2019). "Tory leadership donations: who's really backing Boris Johnson". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  14. ^ "View donation". The Electoral Commission. Retrieved 29 May 2020.

External links[]

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